


Tranquil

by Poppy_Head



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Christmas Dinner, Cooking, M/M, Pre GZ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 07:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13141929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poppy_Head/pseuds/Poppy_Head
Summary: Established KazuChrono. Part of the CFV Secret Santa 2017.In the calm between storms, the two wind down together during the festive season.





	Tranquil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alittleshadow](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Alittleshadow).



“Chrono, we- STOP. WE DON’T NEED THAT MUCH BATTER MIX.”

A gentle cascading of snow set a cozy backdrop for the Shindou household. It was around half-way through December and - a few weeks prior - Chrono had figured hosting a pre-Christmas dinner for his friends would make a nice substitute for the real thing, since everyone would probably be with their families on the day. Mikuru had skeptically let him host, as long as he did all the washing up. Despite this, she was rather excited to see Chrono’s friends, who’d been mentioned so many times in passing conversation, she felt bad that she hadn’t gotten the time to chat with them.

In order to prepare all the food for the oncoming hungry mouths, he’d tagged not-so-willing-boyfriend Kazuma in to help.

“Yeh but- there’s gonna be loads of people.” Chrono responded, quite sure that what they had was a minuscule portion of what they actually needed. “Plus, isn’t it better to make extra batter just in case?”

Kazuma led Chrono’s eyes to the pile of freshly prepared chicken that laid waiting to be cooked. Then back to the batter mix, and back to himself. “You only need to coat them lightly. I’m pretty sure we’ve got enough already. Besides,” he paused, picking up the rest of the ingredients for the batter and beginning to put them away. “I don’t want to be even more of a burden to Mikuru-san.”

Chrono shrugged. “It’s not like she’s not had these ingredients gathering dust anyway, she said she was happy we were using them.” Kazuma clicked his tongue, stopped mid-tidy and turned around to flick Chrono on the head.

“That’s not the point, idiot.”

“Ow! I get that, but for once I’m just believing her than assuming I’m being a burden-“. Chrono sighed, pausing. “It’s cool, I just hope they taste okay.”

Kazuma prodded him before tidying the rest of the batter ingredients away, “Well, we followed the recipe, didn’t we?” Chrono couldn’t even get a word in before Kazuma added; “That was rhetorical, shut up.”

A stupid, airy laughter filled the kitchen. These moments alone were rare for them, and even though neither of them had built the courage to admit it, they both relished the time they could spend together. They hadn’t been long together. Perhaps two or three months, mostly unchanged in the way they conversed, bantered, they still bounced off each other like they did during the U20. Until, they’d realised they could find a rare breed of solace and care within each other. They also found the other very good looking.

It didn’t take the rest of the group very long to find out, either. Taiyou didn’t seem too pleased to be a permanent third wheel. Shion wished them well, and Tokoha couldn’t be happier for them. All in all, they were happy. And with their first holiday fast approaching, it all seemed just right.

“Now,” Chrono started as he unpacked the parts to make the dessert from a paper bag. “Where do you we start with this?” 

Kazuma gave him a dull blink. “Well, a bowl would be a good idea.” Chrono punched his arm as he chuckled. He produced a recipe seemingly out of no-where, which contained the steps to make Strawberry shortcake. Flour, butter, eggs, sugar, milk, liquor... liquor? He hoped that bit was optional...

They started to slowly and a bit-too-cautiously measure out the ingredients to put together the cake. Chrono prepared the strawberries, chopping the stalks off and preparing to wash them, while Kazuma began to mix together the beaten eggs and sugar. While waiting for the butter to soften and eventually melt, Kazuma had taken to sifting the flour, which ended up dressing both of their aprons once he’d finished with it.

Amidst it all, Chrono reached over and drew a smiling face on Kazuma’s chest. “Oh, so you just get to have artistic licence then?” Kazuma started, smirking. He takes a hand over his floured clothes, and proceeds to smear the results on Chrono’s cheek.

“Hey-!” Chrono exclaimed, pouting. “That’s not fair, at least I didn’t make you any messier.” 

Kazuma laughed aloud. “Who said there was rules?”

With that, Chrono gave Kazuma a taste of his own medicine, in the flavour of dry, unpleasant flour, all over his face in one smooth sweep. Kazuma coughed as it got in his mouth, scowled, and did the exact same back. Chrono yelled in surprise, flinching and trying to wipe it off with vigour, but it only made it worse. Kazuma laughed so hard his sides started to hurt, and it didn’t take long for the other to join in. They spent a few minutes trying to breath, faces red and cheeks aching.

A “We should get cleaned up, huh?” finally broke the episode of laboured heaving.

________________

It took them a few minutes to get rid of the flour on their faces, and groaned in dismay upon realising the effect of combining water with flour. Some facecloths and scrubbing later, the two returned to the kitchen to finish the mix. The whisking went about as poorly as expected, and Chrono needed a second trip to the sink after forgetting to turn down the speed setting before turning the device on.

Soon after - with cake in the oven - the two of them moved to the living room, and sat together on the couch in front of the television. It was still on after Mikuru-san had forgotten to turn it off in a rush, so they let the usual gaff run in the background.

Arm around Chrono, Kazuma pondered on what to say. “You know, I never actually told you how my brother reacted. To us, I mean.”

Chrono turned to the other, quizzical. “Oh yeh? What’d he say?”

“I never realised how sheltered life was living with him, ‘cause it turns out he was pretty sheltered from the idea of homosexuality. When I told him I was seeing you that way, he was just really quiet.”

“That must’ve worried you.”

It had, at the time. Kazuma didn’t have a response for his brother’s silence, and they’d basked in it for a long, eerie minute. He wasn’t sure whether or not to say something, he wanted to know what was going through his brother’s head, but all he could read was his eyes, which seemed unmoving.

Kazumi had slowly picked up his gaze to look at his younger brother again. He had asked how he could support them, which Kazuma could only have grinned to. 

They spent some time discussing all of the elder brother’s queries, and he was as uneducated on the subject as Kazuma assumed he’d be. Despite that, laying down the foundation of knowledge for something far more modern than his brother seemed to click all the vacant parts of their relationship back together. It had been pleasant to explore how each of them had changed over the years of separation between them. They were older now, more mature, and it showed in how easily they melded in conversation.

“Yeh, but he’s excited to re-introduce himself. He wants to be proper about it, so expect lots of handshakes and solemn apologies,” Kazuma laughed, pulling Chrono closer. “I’m sure you can make a nice second impression, yeh?”

Chrono smirked, leaning over to smooch the other on the cheek. “Hopefully. I mean, your brother sounds like a really decent guy. When he’s not being diffrided by Shiranui, anyway.”

They both nodded rather solemnly, Kazuma making a low noise of agreement. It wasn’t fun, watching his brother becoming the puppet of the Vanguard he’d come to hate. He was glad to see it over.

Brushing those looming thoughts to the back of his head, he checked the time on the television. It was only another 5 minutes or so before the cake was due to be finished baking. He pulled at Chrono’s chin lightly, towards him. He kissed him gently, hand now smoothing over the other’s neck and into his brightly coloured hair. Chrono moaned quietly, reciprocating with the same gentleness he received, the two holding each other for a moment. They soon pulled away, resting on each other’s forehead. “It still feels new, doesn’t it?”

Kazuma sighed a little. “Yeh, for sure. Though I think it’ll take me a while to get tired of you.” Smirking, he made a move to jab at the other’s side, causing Chrono to hiccup into tiny fits of laughter.

“Hey- Hey!! Stop!” Chrono laughed, one eye squeezed shut while he pried Kazuma’s hands off him. “You cheeseball. C’mon, let’s go check on the kitchen.”

________________

The two soon made quick work of the remaining tasks. The cake was put on a cooling rack so it didn’t go pear-shaped, and they began to cover the chicken in it’s batter mix and fry them in small batches. It was nice, cooking like this. A pinch of domesticity in their otherwise regular lives was what they needed to help break up their repetitive routines.

When the last few pieces of chicken had finished cooking in the oil, they were plucked from the boiling liquid and laid to rest on kitchen towel like the rest of them. With a satisfied sigh, Chrono took a step back, gazing upon their finished work. Kazuma reached to turn the cooker off, looking a little quizzical at the other. “You know we haven’t iced the cake yet, right?”

Partially finished work, then.

Chrono turned around to look at the resting dessert, then to his phone. It was five minutes away from their guests being due, there was no way they could finish before anyone arrived-

With that thought half finished, a gentle knock on the door interrupted it. They looked at each other, nervous. Busted.

Their guests soon flooded in one after another, Tokoha and Kumi the first among them. Shion and his team soon followed, as did Taiyou, Jamie and of course, Kazumi. They all greeted the hosts with wide eyes and plentiful thanks, soon huddling round the table to converse with each other. As the two amateur hosts started to make beginnings on decorations the cake, Kazumi slowly wandered over to see how they were doing. “How’s everything going?”

Kazuma stood up a little straighter, and let Chrono continue for a bit on his own. “As you can see, we’re professionals,” he smirked, ruffling his boyfriend’s hair. Chrono groaned and flapped him away.

“I think it’s really good of you to do this. Means everyone can enjoy this time together, as long as you cook food that will be remembered for the right reasons.” Kazumi laughed, and Chrono couldn’t help snickering too. They felt a little in over their heads, but like Kazumi said, they were doing it for everyone else.

As everyone cheered on the fried chicken entourage, the snowfall doubled and blanketed them in a cozy, festive bliss.

**Author's Note:**

> It was a little rushed, a little haphazard, and very rusty, but I managed to produce something I’m content with as a gift for @alittleshadow! (Hey I kinda managed to combine two prompts in one, right?)
> 
> Gawd I haven’t written something in aaaaaages, but I’m happy with how I picked up their character. I would have lengthened the end a little, if it wasn’t for the last minute Christmas rush I had to deal with.
> 
> Either way, hope you all have a merry holiday season, and a happy new year!


End file.
